The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajiya Sadiya Farouq, has presented feeding utensils to the Borno Government for the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP) in the state.
Presenting the materials at a ceremony in Maiduguri on Friday, Farouq said the programme was one of the key interventions of the Buhari administration.
“As we may all know, the NHGSFP is one of the four key interventions of the Federal Government, under the National Social Investment Programme which seeks to boost; school enrollment, nutrition, local economic activities across thousands of communities in our nation.
“This programme, at its core, is designed to address poverty in all its forms and is a collaboration between the Federal Government and state governments, where the FG is responsible for the release funds, guidelines, policies, and monitoring, while the state carries out the day-to-day implementation, including procurement of food items, selection of cooks and vendors who prepare, cook and serve the pupils with meals,” Farouq said.
While noting that the programme helped in addressing hunger, malnutrition and poverty, the minister said that so far over 9 million pupils were on the programme being fed by over 100,000 cooks.
Speaking at the occasion, the Minister of State for Education, Mr Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, lauded the impact of the programme on school enrolment and urged those engaged in the programme to show passion in the programme.
A primary three pupil, Master Kyari Mohammed, who spoke on behalf of pupils in the state, thanked President Buhari’s administration for the programme which he said has made schooling an interesting experience for them.
Also speaking on behalf of food vendors, Mrs Shetu Dodo, who commended FG for the programme which provided them employment, assured they would not abuse the opportunity.
Responding on behalf of the Borno Government, the Commissioner for Women Affairs, Hajiya Zuwaira Gambo, thanked the FG for the programme and utensils provided which she said would be judiciously utilized.
While in Maiduguri, the Minister and her team who inspected the feeding of pupils at GRA primary school, also inaugurated the Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) centre at the Federal Government College, Maiduguri, equipped by the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development.
